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one place say "There is none righteous", and in another place speak of a man as
"righteous", we are immediately aware that the word is being used in two different
senses. Our proposition therefore needs amending, so as to read:--
No men are righteous by nature.
Some men are righteous through grace.
The fourth kind of proposition is called the "sub-alternate". The formulæ for this are:
"All A is B"; "Some A is B", and "No A is B"; "Some A is not B."
It stands to reason that if "all men are sinners", then "some men are sinners". There
can be no "exceptions".
Of two sub-alternate propositions, the truth of the universal ("all") proves the truth of
the particular ("some"), but the truth of the particular ("some") does not necessarily
imply the truth of the universal ("all"). This is a most important reservation, and one that
is often forgotten. Because Christ has redeemed some men, it does not necessarily follow
that He has redeemed all: that still remains to be proved on other grounds.
In conclusion, let the reader ponder the following statements:--
"Logic is the entire theory of the ascertainment of reasoned or inferred truth."
"Inconceivability is no criterion of impossibility."
How many put forward as a valid argument such statements as: "It is not conceivable
that a God of love should . . . . ." This is not an argument. It has no valid premises, and
appeals merely to sentiment, bias or sectarianism. Again, do not be misled by such a
statement as the following: "An assertion is either true or false", for some propositions
are called "unmeaning" because they do not use terms in an intelligent sense. What is
true is:--
"A proposition must be either true or false, provided the predicate be one which can
be in an intelligent sense an attribute of the subject."
It is because this is so, that we have devoted so much space and time to the elements
that go to make up the proposition, and seeing that we, as students of the Word, find our
material in the inspired words of Scripture, what a need there is, before we begin to
reason or argue, to be as sure as possible that the terms we use are fit representations of
the truth as given by God.